


Close Quarters

by kisahawklin



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-02-17
Updated: 2009-02-17
Packaged: 2017-10-06 17:39:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/56177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kisahawklin/pseuds/kisahawklin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodney and John get locked in a closet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Close Quarters

**Author's Note:**

  * For [onecheekyhobbit](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=onecheekyhobbit).



"No!"

Rodney pushed back as hard as he could, but considering there were six frat boys trying to shove him, he knew he was in trouble.

"Hey guys," someone drawled from behind them. Rodney didn't recognize the voice, but they stopped pushing, so he backed up and pulled the cuffs of his shirt down, eyeing the front door.

"What's going on?" the new guy asked, stepping between Rodney and the six idiots he was supposed to be tutoring. He hated having work study, but it wasn't like he was cleaning toilets, and it meant he didn't have to talk to his parents if he didn't want to.

"Shep," Moron number one said, and the menace in his voice made Rodney wish 'Shep' hadn't just blocked his only way out of the frat house. "You don't want to get in the middle of this."

"Come on," Shep said, and Rodney almost wished he'd shut up so he could get his beating over with and go lick his wounds. Drawing the whole situation out wasn't going to do any good.

"You like the little geek?" Moron number two (in an eye-searing Hawaiian shirt) said.

"He's harmless," Shep said, and then Rodney shoved him.

"Stop defending me, you idiot. I have better things to do with the rest of my evening than watching you negotiate with Neanderthals R Us before I get my beating."

"Whoa, buddy," Shep said, turning to Rodney and smiling, a ridiculous smirk that matched his ridiculous hair and not-quite-so-ridiculous black t-shirt and jeans. "I was just trying to help you out."

"Well, thanks, _Shep_," Rodney said, watching the morons whisper behind Shep's back. "But I think I can handle this on my own."

"Oh, you were doing a bang-up job there," Shep said, but he didn't seem pissed off - he was still smiling, for pete's sake.

Then he was flailing, falling toward Rodney, who caught him in self-defense, and before he could untangle himself from the long-limbed surfer dude, the both of them were being pushed and prodded into the broom closet by six pairs of ridiculously strong hands.

"No!" Rodney yelled, making Shep wince. "No! You can't, I'm afraid of small places! No, please!"

The light disappeared as the door closed behind them, and Rodney heard something that sounded suspiciously like a chair being shoved under the doorknob. He started pounding. "Let me out, damn it, please, I can't breathe! No, no, no..."

There was a burst of laughter and Rodney stopped pounding and sat down hard on the linoleum floor of the closet. "Shh, shh, don't breathe so fast," he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut and wrapping his arms around his knees. He tried to keep himself from rocking, given there was another person in the tiny, tiny space, but he couldn't help it.

He heard Shep pounding on the door, yelling, "This isn't funny - he's really afraid, guys," and "Come on, that's enough now," and "Grow up, you fucking bastards!"

When it was clear that they were gone and Shep's yelling wasn't going to bring them back, Rodney felt him slide down the wall to sit next to him. "Hey," he said softly, one hand on Rodney's bicep, "hey, it's not that bad, they'll come back and let us out in a little while."

"Not that bad?" Rodney snapped. "You idiot! If you hadn't interfered, I'd be in my dorm room by now!"

"Yeah, black and blue," Shep answered. "I saw those guys kick a kid into unconsciousness a couple of weeks ago."

"Well, at least I'd be unconscious then, instead of _stuck in a closet_!" He could hear his voice rising in pitch, hysteria threatening on the edges of his rigidly held control. He started rocking again.

"Hey," Shep said. "I was just trying to help." He rubbed his thumb over the skin of Rodney's bicep.

"Well next time, don't!" Rodney kept rocking. It was the only thing keeping him from hyperventilating.

"Come on," Shep said, his voice low and soothing. "You just need something to distract you. My name's John Sheppard. What's yours?"

"Rodney McKay. Soon to be _Dr._ Rodney McKay."

"No way," John said, and knocked his knee into Rodney's. "You look like a freshman."

"That's because I'm nineteen," Rodney said. The small talk made Rodney nervous. There wasn't much air in here, and the talking was definitely wasting it. Not to mention he could feel the moist air from John's exhales on his arm. "Can you please stop talking now? There's a limited oxygen supply and my brain needs to be as highly oxygenated as possible for as long as possible."

"There's plenty of air getting in around the door," John said, and his voice held a note of teasing in it. "Relax, you're not going to suffocate."

"You don't know that," Rodney said, shivering as another one of John's exhales stirred the hair on his arm. John shifted, moving around clumsily in the small space. He felt John's hands on his knees, pushing them gently apart.

"C'mon, Rodney, let go!"

Rodney released his legs, his arms circling nothing in midair for a moment. He dropped them to his sides as John knelt between his legs.

Nerves made his heart beat loudly in his ears, but this was a different kind of nerves, one that had nothing to do with claustrophobia. "What are you-"

"I told you," John said, his hands still resting atop Rodney's knees. "You just need to be distracted."

"Distracted?" Rodney asked, but before he could say more, he had his hands full of John Sheppard again. John had levered himself forward, his hands pressing hard against Rodney's knees, and placed a kiss square on the apple of Rodney's cheek.

"Oops," John said, and Rodney huffed out something that might have been a laugh if he wasn't completely derailed by having his hands on John's rib cage and John's lips ghosting over his face like they were trying to learn it in Braille.

By the time they finally made it to Rodney's mouth, Rodney's heart had made camp in his throat, and John's hands had joined the party, his fingertips tracing Rodney's cheekbone and hairline and jaw.

Rodney's eyes were wide open, trying to memorize the black and white silhouette of John's face as he kissed Rodney, tiny, closed-mouth kisses, pulling back between placing each one deliberately.

Rodney couldn't do more than hold John up by his ribs, but it felt good to have John's weight in his hands, to feel his body straining forward to press against Rodney's. Finally, when Rodney had calmed down enough to start kissing back, his lips chasing after John's as he pulled away, he flicked out his tongue, catching John's lower lip as he retreated.

"Enough already," he said, and John surged forward, blotting out the minuscule amount of light getting around the edge of the door. His mouth settled on Rodney's, and Rodney reeled him in, pulling their chests together and wrapping one arm around John's back to hold him there.

He saw John blink, a slow-motion sweep of his eyelashes in the dim light, and then John was moving in, and Rodney's newly-free hand was sliding up John's neck, and -

_"What the hell?"_

There was a brief scraping noise and the door was flung open. A giant man stood in the doorway, blocking the light almost as effectively as the door itself.

"Ronon!" John said, grinning at him. He turned back to Rodney with the same grin, but it slowly slid off his face as he watched Rodney.

Rodney dropped his hands, figuring John could manage getting up on his own. His night was looking worse than it had when the morons locked him in here; now John's own personal Neanderthal was going to beat him up.

"Hey," Sheppard said, grabbing Rodney's chin and forcing him to look in his eyes. "We can finish this later, okay?"

Before Rodney could even start his protestation noises, John leaned forward and kissed him, one hard kiss, right on the mouth.

"Sheppard," Ronon said, offering a hand, and pulling John to his feet in a single easy move. Then he offered his hand to Rodney, who didn't dare refuse. Ronon pulled him up just as easily as John, and miraculously, without pulling his entire arm off.

"Thanks," Rodney said, and Ronon shrugged at him.

"I'm hungry."

John laughed. "All right, buddy."

Rodney leaned down to pick up the jacket he had dropped before his imminent beating and started for the door, only to be surprised by John slipping an arm around his shoulders. "How do you feel about pizza?"

Rodney sputtered and looked up at Ronon, who said nothing and matched their stride, settling in next to them as they left the frat house.

"I think we should reconsider pledging Phi Delt," John said.

Ronon shrugged. "I hear Tau Kappa Epsilon has a mean D&amp;D game."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to [](http://the-wanlorn.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**the_wanlorn**](http://the-wanlorn.dreamwidth.org/) for beta. All remaining mistakes _definitely_ mine. For [onecheekyhobbit](http://www.onecheekyhobbit.livejournal.com), who wanted AU McShep where they end up in close quarters. Hope this is what you were looking for!


End file.
